Beginner/Advanced Jazz Concepts. *updated*

[Cor]

I PM'ed this to someone recently, and thought maybe the boards may appreciate it. I'm just pasting it pretty much from the PM, so some of it may be worded strangely for a post.

The first thing I learned when beginning to study jazz were 7th chords.

You can construct them using the major scale. Most musical concepts (chords, modes, key of song, etc) are based off of the major scale. The pattern is Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half (WWHWWWH). The C major scale starts on C and from there follows that pattern. When you play it, you get C D E F G A B C. No sharps or flats, because the key of C does not have any. Now if you were to do F, it'd be F G A Bb C D E F. The key of F has one flat. Now, you can do the WWHWWWH pattern with any root, and from there figure out it's seventh chords.

the "Maj 7- Root, 3, 5, 7" means that a Major 7th chord is made up of these notes- the root of the scale, the 3rd note of the scale, the 5th note of the scale and the 7th note of the scale. The scale chords are built off of is always the major scale. So, if I was making a C major 7th chord, I would use the root (C), the 3rd (E), the 5th (G), and the 7th (B). The result would be CEGB. If I wanted to make a F major 7th chord it would be FACE.

When it comes to the other ones, like a Dominant 7th, the formula is Root, 3, 5, b7. A C Dominant 7th (or commonly, C7) would be CEGBb, because the seventh is flatted.

major 7th (Gmaj7), minor 7th(Gmi7 or G-7), dominant 7th(G7) minor 7th flat five or "half diminished" (Gmi7b5 or G-7b5), diminished (Go7) are pretty essentially chords in jazz. 90% of tunes will be based off of 7th chords instead of triads. The first thing to do for jazz is to learn how to play some of these chords. Here is how they are constructed

Maj 7- Root, 3, 5, 7
Dom 7- R, 3, 5, b7
Min 7- R, b3, 5, b7
Min 7 b5- R, b3, b5, b7
Dim 7- R b3, b5, bb7

Another important thing to know is the major scale, along with it's modes. Ionian (same as major scale), Dorian (second mode) and Mixolydian (5th mode) are the most important to begin with.

If you really want to get into jazz, you're going to want to buy a "fake book". It's a book of tunes that all jazz players commonly play. It's not out of the ordinary to go to a gig with your fake book and just play tunes out of it I suggest the "Real Book, 6th edition". You can get them for $25 at guitar center.

Once you get your book, you should start looking at tunes. Commonly, people learn tunes like "Autumn Leaves" "How High the Moon" "All of Me" "Stella by Starlight" first. Should you buy a book I can give you some other good tunes.

Now the hard part...

Tons of jazz tunes contain the chord progression "ii-V-I". In the key of Gmaj, that would be "Ami7-D7-Gmaj7". Now, to solo over that, I would think "A Dorian, D Mixolydian, G Major".

When it comes to talking about ii-V-I, we're dealing with the chords of each major scale. I'll try my best to walk you through it. for each note in C maj, if you build a chord off it, you will get a certain qaulity chord. This is true in every key, not just C major. For instance-

C major 7(I)-CEGB
D minor 7(ii)-DFAC
E minor 7(iii)-EGBD
F major 7(IV)-FACE
G Dominant 7(V7)-GBDF
A minor 7(vi)- ACEG
B half diminished(vii)- BDFA

lowercase numerals always mean minor, uppercase are major. Half diminished is lowercase and has a circle with a slash through it after it, fully diminished is lowercase and has a circle after it.

So, a ii-V-I in C major would be Dmi7-G7-Cmaj7.

In my earlier days of playing, I would only think "G major", because those chords are all in the key of G major. I would suggest you do that until you can spot ii-Vs and learn to easily navigate them.

The most important tones to play when soloing are the 3 and 7 of the chord. This is what gives jazz solos the feeling of "playing the changes" or "outlining the changes".

Some essential CDs (IMO)
Miles Davis- Kind of Blue, Milestones, Four & More/My Funny Valentine (two-disc live cd. My favorite jazz disc)
John Coltrane- Blue Train, Giant Steps, A Love Supreme
Charles Mingus- Mingus Ah Um
Chick Corea- Light as a Feather (kind of fusion-y)
Clifford Brown- Best of...
Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie- Bird & Diz
Dizzy Gillespie- Shaw Nuff
Herbie Hancock-Maiden Voyage
Sonny Rollins- Saxophone Colossus
John Scofield- En Route
Wes Montgomery- Incredible Jazz Guitar of..., Full House

If there is any interest, or if anyone wants an elaboration, I can help out. Hopefully someone finds this useful.

EDIT- some of this info may be out of order. I pasted from two different PMs and tried to piece them together best I could.

[sunglassesatnight]

Thanks Cor.

[markTR]

Thanks Cor.

[Cor]

No problem guys. I've got some more advanced ideas too if anyone wants to read them.

[sunglassesatnight]

Post 'em!

[Kahn]

The most important tones to play when soloing are the 3 and 7 of the chord. This is what gives jazz solos the feeling of "playing the changes" or "outlining the changes".

Can you elaborate on this i.e. more tips on how great jazz guitarists accomplish this?

[Cor]

I'll have to do it over the next few days. I've got work in a few. I am going to update the first post with a little stuff regarding chord theory if people don't understand that.

The adv. stuff will deal with altered chords, altered lines over dominants with melodic minor usage, and a few other cool things.

[Kahn]

This is great, thanks.

[Cor]

The most important tones to play when soloing are the 3 and 7 of the chord. This is what gives jazz solos the feeling of "playing the changes" or "outlining the changes".

Can you elaborate on this i.e. more tips on how great jazz guitarists accomplish this?

Sure. There are some simple patterns that can get you started. I'll try to tab one right now, and when I have more time, I'll do some more.

Code: Select all

     Ami7           D7         Gmaj7
e|---------------------------|---------------------|
b|---------------------------|---------------------|
G|-------------------------5-|-4-------------------|
D|-------------5----4--567---|---5-----------------|
A|---------7-----------------|-----7-5-------------|
E|--5--8---------------------|---------7-5-3\2/3---|

The first four notes outline the 1 b3 5 and b7 of the Ami7, the F# (4 on D string) is the third of the next chord, and the C (5 on G) is the 7th. I finished it off with the 3rd of the Gmaj, B (4 on G) with the 7th down there, F# (2 on E)

The first four notes is a common pattern for outlining a ii-V

[taparoo]

This is a great refresher. Good stuff.

And definitely post more advanced stuff when you get a chance.

[Cor]

Here are a few other piece of information.

After you get down outlining ii-Vs and just chords in general while soloing, you can start to make it a little more interesting.

Say you are playing a typical Bb rhythm changes. The B section will basically be Dominants cycling in 4ths for two bars each.

You could play something like this-

Code: Select all

  D7                           G7
e|8-7-5---------|--------------|--------------|------------------
b|------7/8--7--|-5---5--------|--------------|------------------
G|--------------|---7-----5---5|4--4----------|--------4-5h7p54/-
D|--------------|-----------7--|-----5--5-----|--3-5-7-----------
A|--------------|--------------|-----------7--|7-----------------
E|--------------|--------------|--------------|------------------
 

  C7                                   F7
e|----------5-7-|12-8-------------10-8|10h11p10p8-------|-------------8-11-13|
b|--------6-----|-----11-------10-----|-----------11-10-|--------8-11--------|
G|3---5/7-------|--------12-10--------|-----------------|---8-10-------------|
D|--------------|---------------------|-----------------|10------------------|
A|--------------|---------------------|-----------------|--------------------|
E|--------------|---------------------|-----------------|--------------------| 

which is alright. But a little boring. the outlining is there, but jazz is known for going outside the box.

The best way to do this, is to use the melodic minor scale. Play the scale a half step above a dominant and you'll end up with all sorts of great altered tones- b9, #9, b5, #5. Plus, you'll get the 3rd and the flat 7th, which define it as dominant.

You can also use diminished triads starting from the root. Here's a lick with these things incorporated.

I might play something like this.

Code: Select all

  D7                              G7
e|---------------|---------------|--------------|----------------------|
b|---------------|---------------|--------------|----------------------|
G|---------------|7-6-5----------|--------------|--------------4-7--6-5|
D|--------6-7-8-9|------9-8-7-6-5|3-------------|--------3-6-5---------|
A|5/6-8-9--------|---------------|--5-3---------|--2-5-4---------------|
E|---------------|---------------|------7-5-1---|3---------------------|
 

  C7                                   F7
e|----------------|------------------|-----------------|--------------------|
b|----------------|------------------|-----------------|--------------------|
G|5h6p5p3-5--3----|3-6--3--5--3------|3p2-----------2--|5-3-2-3-------------|
D|--------------5-|------------------|----3---3-4-5----|--------------------|
A|----------------|------------------|------5----------|--------------------|
E|----------------|------------------|-----------------|--------------------|

I'll edit this post and type some more later. That tabbing took forever.

[Cor]

So, if anyone wants anymore concepts/advice/anything I'd be glad to put some stuff up. I can also post some .pdfs with notation (and I think with tab as well) so you can actually get the rhythms I'm trying to convey. Just PM me or top this thread if you want anything.

[SimsUK]

Please, please.

[Cor]

What are you working on or want to know about?

[Sort Of A Protest Song]

What about little rifs that follow standard chords; what's the best way to practice them? Might be a bit hard to explain, think of a song like "Slow Dancing In a Burning Room" by John Mayer or "Broken" by Jack Johnson. There are tons of little hammer on/offs and riffs after the chords changes; is it a matter of just playing with the notes "around" the chord or would a standard form help out?